


A week at a day spa

by epersonae



Series: The Director [9]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Plant sensuality, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-16 12:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10571514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epersonae/pseuds/epersonae
Summary: The Director tries to relax, despite everything. Merle opens up a little.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place at the end of Merle's part of Episode 40. Heavy spoilers of the Episode 59 variety. I thought this was going to be more lewd but it turned out tender.
> 
> The title is from Zoolander, because I couldn't think of anything else spa-related.

Lucretia had been quite certain that this was going to be a very bad idea. She’d deliberately cultivated an air of formality with everyone at the Bureau, and none more so than her reclaimers,  with good reason. “Her reclaimers” -- that there was the reason, because if a single word slipped her lips that they would hear as static, that they might guess...well, then it was all over. 

So she was wary at best when Merle invited her along on his trip to the spa.

The idea of being able to relax and be open with Merle! Her mentor, once upon a time, before everything went to hell, before the liches took 20 years of her life, before she started this path they were all on, and she couldn’t tell him. She still couldn’t get the look on his face  _ then _ out of her mind; he’d been so disappointed in her. 

But of course he didn’t remember. And she hadn’t taken a break from her work in so long. Perhaps it would work out…. She said yes.

And so far, despite her entirely well-founded fears, Lucretia had had a perfectly lovely time. Merle was still so wryly funny, so sincere, so  _ gracious _ . She’d found ways to open up a little, after quite a bit of wine and honestly very relaxing treatments, and that was lovely too. It was possible for her to be honest, somehow, without invoking the times before or accidentally saying something would not be able to hear or remember. 

She drank her wine and sank into the mud bath, and for a few moments thought of absolutely nothing.

Later -- after the mud but before dinner -- they had a little free time to wander the grounds. Of course Merle found the conservatory, a lovely little building of steel and glass set in a broad lawn apart from the main building. It had been cold outside, but inside was warm, even steamy. 

The conservatory was crammed with tropical plants, and while Lucretia kept to the gravel path, Merle buried his face in a mass of vines. She could hear him murmuring at them, and for a moment thought she saw a few leaves move of their own accord to caress his cheeks.

She’d almost forgotten that side of him.

“The boys seem a little...uncomfortable with your…” She trailed off, not knowing quite how to finish the sentence, and when he looked at her, she just gestured non-committally. 

He was a bit flushed, even for a normally rosy-cheeked dwarf, and at first she thought he was going to make a lewd joke. 

“Lucretia… Madame Director….” The switch to her formal title almost broke her heart. She came over to him. 

He reached out to a sturdy plant -- she didn’t know the name -- with a stalk of flowers on the verge of bloom. Again he leaned forward and murmured: whatever spell he was working, the tone of his voice was deeply sensual, coaxing, intimate. The petals curled open. 

Then he took her hand and held it so the flower rested in her palm. The petals were smooth, with a texture somewhere between silk and flesh, and a rush of scent enveloped her. The whole plant had gone into full bloom from Merle’s spell.

“Plants, they don’t hide their sensuality. Ever. This plant is throwing open its sex at all the world, just waiting for some bee or fly or spider or bird to carry its seed to another plant. It needs the world to love it.” Merle smiled dreamily. “I told you I wasn’t much of a faithful cleric, but being a Pannite… Means at least I get to appreciate this, all the time.”

He’d never talked to her like this before: certainly not since she brought them into her Bureau of Balance, and not all those years ago, when he was like a father to her. He was trusting her with something true. 

She wrapped her fingers around his: they were both a little wrinkled now. His were warm, where now hers were almost always cold. The smell of flowers, of the moist air, of the earth, it was all around them. She sighed.

“Thank you, Merle.”

**Author's Note:**

> My very first AO3 post, be kind! (And some of my first fiction writing in several years.) Only lightly edited.
> 
> I'm finding myself drawn to writing about Lucretia, somewhat to my own surprise!


End file.
